SEASONAL ROUND OF HARVESTING ACTIVITIES

Stony River people base their annual cycle on a seasonal pattern of resource harvesting and processing activities. . . . Alterations in the pattern may occur from year to year for a variety of reasons including fluctuations in resource availability, poor weather and travel conditions, altered hunting regulations, and job availability. In spite of changes, in part, resulting from imposed hunting restrictions, technological changes, and the involvement in wage employment, Stony River residents have maintained an annual round of resource harvest activities that resembles traditional patterns of land and resource use.

The year is composed of two primary seasons; the open-water season (May to October or November) and the closed-water season (November or December to May). Two lesser seasons, breakup (March or April to May) and freeze-up (October to November or December) are transitional periods between the two primary seasons. The kinds of local transportation used and the types of resource activities pursued are strongly influenced by these seasons. During the open-water season, boat and foot are the main transportation modes; while snowmobile, dog team and walking are the chief methods used during the closed-water season. During breakup and freeze-up, travel continues by the same types of transportation, but is restricted due to poor and changing ice, snow, and ground conditions. . . .

In the spring, Stony River villagers prepare for the open-water fishing season by repairing boats, outboard motors, fishwheels and nets, or constructing and purchasing new ones. Fresh supplies of fuel are also ordered. Once the ice stops running, fishwheels and nets are set in the Kuskokwim and Stony Rivers to procure the fish then available including whitefish, grayling, pike, and other non-salmonid species. When the sheefish run is at its peak in the central Kuskokwim area during May and June, people harvest these large whitefish with drift and set nets. They are a welcome change in the diet from burbot and the other species of fish harvested during the winter months. Fish camps are made ready for use, and gardens are prepared and planted. Also, at this time, people seek summer employment and anticipate jobs they have already secured.

People who maintain overnight salmon camps normally do not move to them until the onset of heavy salmon runs, usually in mid June. For the majority of Stony River households, the harvesting and processing of salmon is the focus of activity from June into August. It is an intense period because the salmon normally appear in large numbers and provide one of the most important food staples in the Stony River economy.

Especially during the spring, summer, and fall seasons, plants are gathered for a variety of purposes including firewood, food, medicine, the production of handicrafts, and the construction of buildings. For example, birch bark is peeled during the summer and made into baskets and other containers. After the first fall frost, the roots of the "wild potato" (Hedysrium alpinum) are dug in quantity and eaten fresh or stored for future use. Berries are the plant food gathered in the largest quantities by the most households.

Berry picking begins in July and in some years may continue into October. Parties generally travel by boat and on foot to localities where berries grow most abundantly. Because lowbush "salmonberries," (Rubus chamaemorus) an especially favored fruit, flourish in swampy terrain often not easily accessible by boat or on foot, people sometimes charter a small plane to a good area to pick them. They may set up camp and stay for several days in order to obtain a large quantity.

Summer is the season when wage employment opportunities are most available in the central Kuskokwim area. One or more members of most Stony River households generally engage in wage work at this time. People also commonly travel to other Kuskokwim communities by boat to transport supplies and to socialize with relatives and friends. Occasionally, trips are also made to Lime Village.

Late summer and fall is also a busy period, with activities focusing on harvesting large game animals, particularly moose. Moose hunting during this time is one of the single most important activities of the entire year, as a household's winter livelihood depends heavily on the large supply of meat a moose supplies. During this time, large numbers of non-local hunters also enter the area for hunting purposes, seriously disrupting local harvesting efforts according to Stony River residents.

Besides moose, residents also hunt caribou and black bear during this season, although they are less sought after than are moose. People also harvest waterfowl, gather large supplies of wood, and set nets for salmon, whitefish and other non-salmonid fish species. They finish harvesting and processing the produce from their gardens, attempt to complete outdoor construction projects, and continue preparations for winter.

Stony River residents depend on frozen waterways for much of their winter travel via snowmobiles and dog teams. While river sloughs and the small streams and ponds may freeze solid enough for travel as early as late October, the main Kuskokwim River near the village often does not freeze sufficiently until late November or early December. Once the ice start to run heavily in the Kuskokwim River, people are largely confined to travel by snowmobile, dog team and foot among the islands and the mainland on the right side of the village along sloughs, streams, and connecting trails. Their land-use activities consist primarily of hauling wood, setting beaver snares, and maintaining short traplines. Trappers who can afford to sometimes charter small aircraft during this period to less accessible and less crowded trapping grounds.

Fishing is also an important activity during this season. People spend considerable time spearing whitefish with leisters from the shorefast ice or occasionally from boats. They also hook grayling, pike, and whitefish through shorefast river ice and in frozen sloughs. Set nets are placed under the ice in the river at this time. During some years, lampreys, locally known as "eels," are harvested through the river ice with long sticks.

Besides trapping, fishing and wood harvesting, Stony River people also spend considerable time hunting small game, especially grouse and rabbits, during late fall and early winter. Legal moose hunting seasons occur in a portion of their land-use area in November and December. While members from at least some households hunt during this time, poor travel conditions often restrict their efforts. For the same reason, most caribou hunting occurs after the river freezes.

Stony River residents wait in anticipation for the solid ice of the main river to reach them and stay informed of its daily movements. When it reaches near Inowak Creek, they haul additional wood and pull traps from the other islands and mainland in preparation for the high water and flooding of sloughs the ice brings as it reaches the vicinity of the village. Depending on how cold temperatures are, several days to a week may pass before the ice is finally safe for travel. In 1983, the main Kuskokwim River was sufficiently frozen by early December for travel to the mainland on the left side of the village.

After the Kuskokwim River freezes solid enough for travel to the left bank, land-use activities become more diversified and widespread. People normally travel by snowmobile and dog team to more distant trapping grounds, especially along the Kuskokwim, Swift, Gagaryah, Cheenetnuk, Nunsatuk, and Stony River. . . . Trappers may stay out for several weeks to a month perhaps returning occasionally to the village to obtain supplies or sell furs. Women spend considerable time, especially during winter, tanning and sewing furs.

Another winter activity is caribou hunting, which takes place primarily in the open country among the Swift, Gagaryah, and Cheenetnuk Rivers between the lower Stony and Holitna Rivers during the regulatory seasons. In late November and December, people place fish traps under the ice in the Kuskokwim with which they primarily catch burbot. For households with wood burning stoves, wood harvesting continues--a time consuming activity throughout the winter months.

By late December and early January, activities focus on the Christmas and New Year holidays, with people conducting most activities from the village base. The majority of Stony Residents is Russian Orthodox and celebrate Christmas on the dates of both the Russian Orthodox and Roman calendars, although the Russian holidays are of greater importance to them. Gift giving, visiting and feasting are central activities of these holidays. Both the village, as a whole, and individual households host large dinners with food saved especially for this time.

After the holidays, people again disperse to pursue hunting and trapping activities. Trappers may return to the same area they trapped before Christmas, or they may use an alternate area. As was true before Christmas, marten and beaver continue to be the primary furbearers harvested. Stony River people also trap fox, mink, land otter, ermine, wolverine, and lynx, normally in significantly fewer numbers then beaver and marten. Besides caribou hunting during the open season, most households participate in the February moose season, as was true in 1984. People continue to harvest burbot, whitefish, and other non-salmonid fish species with traps under the ice.

Late winter and early spring (March and April) are characterized by increasing light and warmth, and are welcomed by Stony River residents. In late March and April, crusting on snow occurs during which temperatures reach above freezing for part of the day and dip below freezing at night. The occurrence of above and below freezing temperatures within this short time produces a hard crust on the snow which is excellent for fast, easy transportation by dog sled, snowmobile, and on foot.

Black bear hunting is an important activity both at this time and after breakup when transportation is by boat. Black bears provide a substantial amount of meat during a period when other large game animals are not as available due primarily to game regulations. Muskrat and waterfowl harvesting is another spring activity pursued by Stony River people both before and after breakup. It is sometimes combined with fishing for whitefish, pike, and other non-salmonid species by placing set nets under the ice and hooking through the ice before the ice goes out. Nets are placed at the mouths of streams. People continue to harvest wood up until the latter stage of breakup, obtaining an especially large supply before that time. . . .

PATTERNS OF EXCHANGE

A traditional system of exchange which distributes local resources and, to a lesser extent, commercial goods primarily, but not exclusively along kinship lines is an integral part of the economy of Stony River village today. Methods of distributing goods include sharing, trading, and borrowing and lending. Such exchanges serve to strengthen friendships, recycle goods, and save people cash, which is normally in low supply. Both primary and secondary systems of distribution facilitate the exchange of resources. Goods also reach beyond the village to other communities through this system. Reports by Charnley (1983 and 1984) and Stickney (1981) provide further discussion concerning traditional exchange patterns in the central Kuskokwim area.

Large game animals and fish, the basis of the non-commercial sector of the Stony River economy, are exchanged most frequently within the community. Small edible game is also shared, especially when procured in significant numbers. Meals are commonly shared by households, especially during holidays when fresh meat is harvested or special dishes such as "native ice cream" called akutaq in Yup'ik are prepared. Commercial goods are sometimes given or traded, although not as frequently as are local resources. The higher the monetary value of a commercial item, the more likely it is to be exchanged for cash.

Game Animals

Although the majority of Stony River households hunt moose and, to a lesser extent, caribou and black bear during the established seasons, some are unsuccessful, or do not have the equipment to hunt. Meat is commonly given or occasionally loaned by successful hunters to households unable to obtain meat themselves. It is also proper etiquette for a person in need to ask kin or friends for food. Another practice is for a successful, well-equipped hunter to assist a needy individual in obtaining meat by helping him hunt. A third alternative is to lend a person the necessary equipment so he can hunt on his own. It is customary for successful hunters, especially, to share with elders and to give them favorite parts of an animal, a common occurrence in Stony River. It is also a traditional practice among both Athabaskan and Yup'ik peoples for a young person to give away his first kill. During the early winter 1983 caribou season, a young adolescent male shot his first caribou and presented it to his grandfather. The same customs are observed for other land-use activities such as fishing. . . .

Moose is both the primary meat staple of Stony River residents and the animal resource most commonly shared among them. A single moose is distributed widely throughout the village, especially during holidays and funerals, and on occasions when the meat supply of the entire village is low. . . . Most households bagged a moose in the early fall and mid-winter seasons, but not in November, due primarily to poor traveling conditions. . . .

It is common for a household that has harvested a moose to give small portions of the animal, such as a leg, to needy households. It is customary for households without meat to be provided for in this fashion by a number of other households so they obtain an ample supply of meat. Occasionally, as hunter who has a more than adequate supply of meat will give an unsuccessful household a half or whole animal. Stony River villagers also practice these methods of sharing. . . .

Fish

As is true of the large game animals, Stony River residents share fish, an equally important component of their resource economy. During the summer, people normally work as single or extended family units in harvesting and processing large quantities of fish. People unable to obtain fish are given it, especially in the summer when there are large numbers of relatively easily procured fish. If a person lacks his own fish camp or equipment, he or she may be invited by a party to share in the work of their fish camp so he or she may obtain fish. For example, a single male without his own camp worked at his father's camp during the summer of 1983 and "earned" fish for his household. His total share of the fish was not taken at the end of the summer, but stored in his father's cache from which he obtained it when needed. The son had his own net, but shared the use of this father's fishwheel.

People with camps, but without equipment or a net or wheel site, may be loaned them by a relative or friend, or allowed a share from someone else's fishwheel or net. For example, one family who normally fishes at a summer camp outside the village, but has a net site near the village, loaned another family the use of the net site for several years. Another household without a wheel or convenient net site during the 1983 summer season was told to take what fish they wanted from another household's wheel.

Because of the labor expended, processed fish is more valuable and not as readily shared as fresh fish. Smoke and air drying and freezing are the most common methods of preserving summer fish; fish processed by these methods are more commonly bartered for than fresh fish. For example, one woman traded some of her smoked fish to another woman from Stony River for groceries. She is well known in the area for processing high quality smoked salmon. Because of this, people from other communities trade for or occasionally purchase fish from her. She also gives a significant amount of fish away to relatives and friends.

Hooking and spearing, fishing methods used primarily in the late fall and early winter, do not consistently yield the large numbers of fish that nets and fishwheels do in a season. Also, these methods do not necessarily demand close cooperation among individuals, expensive equipment, or private fishing sites. An individual may choose to fish alone, with a partner, or in a group. The fish he catches is generally used within his own household, but any surplus he catches may be shared outside his immediate family. . . .